Perhaps the greatest collector of modern and contemporary art in the Pacific Northwest, Ed Cauduro, died last Saturday in Palm Springs at the age of 83.

What differentiated the reclusive collector was his prescient eye as he was among the first to collect artists like Donald Judd, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat, Terry Winters and Jeff Koons. He even collected John Chamberlain's first car crush sculpture, Shortstop.


Contact II by Alexander Liberman

Besides donating works like the orange Alexander Liberman sculpture Contact II in Jamison Square Park or numerous works at the Portland Art Museum, Cauduro gave generously to the Q Center, animal rights and in 2008 set up the 1 million dollar scholarship fund for PNCA. Cauduro was also involved with the PCVA, an institution similar to but predating the Dia Foundation.



Warhol: Four Jackies (formerly part of Cauduro's collection, exhibited at PAM in 2004)

Cauduro was also a Pearl District pioneer. In 2003 Cauduro sold his Pearl District building to dealer Elizabeth Leach and collector Sarah Meigs, insuring that the foothold of art he helped found in Portland would pass to another generation. I'll publish more as details on Cauduro as they develop.

Suffice it to say an eye like Cauduro's is a rare but crucial. He was the sort of collector whose actions took prescient chances and by having such high standards helped define a golden era in art history during the second half of the Twentieth Century. Without a few early collectors to highlight exceptional talents there would be no great artists. Cauduro was such a collector.

Update PNCA and a current Cauduro scholarship recipient respond